Is the Dish Hopper Really Hop-tastic?

Dish Network recently came out with the Dish Hopper, a new style of HD-DVR that surpasses the rest. Dish Network listened to their customers and this is the answer they have provided. This new DVR system offers a refreshing way to enjoy television.

The Dish Hopper is a whole-home system that allows you to watch recorded programs on any television just by hooking up a “Joey” receiver unit. Each Joey unit has access to all recorded content and it allows full user control — including the standard pause, rewind and fast forward. The Joey units also allow you to watch up to four different programs simultaneously. By utilizing the Joey units, you can even record up to six different live television programs at the same time.

6 Reasons the Dish Hopper Rocks

Sick of watching commercials? Set your Hopper to “Auto-Hop” over them as you watch any of your prime-time recordings!

AUTO-HOP

Perhaps my favorite item introduced in this new feature is the Auto-Hop, which allows you to jump over all the commercials in recorded prime-time television programs. This feature is now only available on prime-time shows when they are viewed at least one day after airing. This feature must be set by the user and, when enabled, eliminates commercials without the user having to press a button.

SEARCH

The Dish Hopper has an easy-to-use search function that allows you to search by actor, title, channel, genre or a multitude of other information, so that you can easily find your favorite shows whether they are recorded or playing live. The search function is intuitive and predicts possible results almost immediately, making it quicker and easier to find the program you are looking for.

CONTROLS

Parental Controls can be accessed from any unit, in any room, so you can easily block inappropriate content with a simple password. Dish Network also offers SRS TruVolume in all of its boxes. This unique feature is designed to prevent the volume fluctuations which normally occur between normal television programming and commercials.

The Dish Hopper truly is a whole-home DVR service, and the smaller Joey units are better on electricity than most Cable TV DVRs.

STORAGE

The Dish Hopper comes with two terabytes of storage. One terabyte is exclusively dedicated for your recording needs, this provides over 500 hours of recorded programming. The remaining terabyte is reserved for other Dish functions, such as PrimeTime Anytime, Dish On Demand and future updates.

Programs recorded by PrimeTime Anytime and Dish On Demand are automatically stored within the one terabyte reserved for Dish Network programs, these programs are only stored for a short time. If long-term storage of these programs is desired, then a push of a button will transfer them to the reserved long-term storage.

A fantastic feature that Dish continues with in this newest generation of DVRs is the ability to add an external hard drive to the Hopper. This gives you extra storage space for those lesser-viewed shows that you still want to save. Connection of the external drive is through a USB port in the back of the parent Hopper unit. On-screen prompts should guide you through the configurations of the hard drive system.

INSTALLATION

Installation of the parent Hopper and its Joey units is simple and quick. They still use the same basic connections as other Dish DVRs, including the LNB, phone line and ethernet. Connection between the Joeys and their parent Hopper are through a coaxial cable, which allows it to use MoCA technology (Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance) to reach recorded content from any connected units.

COMPONENTS

The Dish Hopper HD DVR is the hub for your whole-home entertainment system. It has three built-in satellite tuners for simultaneous program recording and it supports many common home media formats, including MKV & MP4 video, JPG photos, and MP3 music. The unit has a low, space-saving footprint and only weighs eight pounds. It offers a smooth profile with 12 operation buttons and an SD card slot hidden behind a flip-down panel.

The Joey units has multi-room DVR capabilities, while significantly reducing cost. The power consumption of a Joey is significantly less than what is normally associated with separate DVR units. These small units take up very little room and unlike noisy DVR units, they are exceptionally quiet, so they are ideal for the bedroom.

Each of the Joey units provide the same video and digital quality as found on its parent Hopper unit. Each unit has a separate remote, but also has just six basic control buttons on the front for those times the remote controls have been misplaced.

Is Dish Hopper Right For You?

The Dish Hopper Whole Home DVR system is an innovative approach that provides users with a whole new way to share the viewing experience. The new technology allows multiple users to view content simultaneously without hampering the video enjoyment of others within the same network.

The added features, ease of use and small footprint combined with the lower power consumption will quickly make this Dish’s top-selling units. The “Auto-Hop,” when used to skip commercials, is a just a bonus that many more users will appreciate. This is a huge improvement over most conventional DVRs. People that choose to go with Dish Network will not be disappointed.

A lost Canadian that woke up one morning and found herself in the U.S. with a husband, child and a mortgage. April is a gear head and a geek that loves tinkering with cars and computers; but strangely the two never meet as she likes to keep her 1940 Oldsmobile in its all original state and her computer updated and running sweet.

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